12 Things To Consider When Designing A Great Company Logo

A logo is more than just an image – it’s the face of your brand, and a symbol that determines how people feel about your company. How people perceive your logo is how they’ll perceive your products and services so it’s important to create a great logo that will grab people’s attention, make them want to learn more about your brand and suggest your company to others.

Before you start, here are 12 things to consider when designing a great company logo:

1. Choose the right colour

The colour of your logo communicates information about your brand to your customer, so it’s important to choose the right colour or combination of colours. Your choice of colours should also be relevant to your target audience.

Different colours convey different feelings, such as:

• Red – Energy, love, warmth, exciting, action, bold, aggression and passion.
• Orange – Happy, sociable, communicative, adventurous, friendly and affordable.
• Yellow – Logical, playful, cheer, optimistic, intellect, forward thinking and confident.
• Green – Growth, organic, natural, ethical, affluence, caring, fresh and earth.
• Blue – Secure, integrity, professionalism, success, calm, honest, strong, caring and trustworthy.
• Purple – Imaginative, intuitive, creative and nostalgic.
• Pink – Feminine, tranquil and loving.
• Black – Sophistication, luxury, seductive, strong, formal and authority.
• Multicolour – Multichannel, positive, playful, bold and boundless.

2. Pick the right font

It’s also important to pick the right font for your logo to convey the right emotions or message. If you want your company to be seen as being traditional, consider serif wordmark logos or font-based wordmarks. Serif wordmark logos are also associated with being respected, sophisticated and exclusive.

Illustrative custom wordmark logos are commonly associated with being trendy, fun, cool, friendly and stylish. With an initials logo, you can make a unique, creative font and be perceived as being powerful, reliable and edgy.

You could also consider using a font that visually represents your product or service, or a classic serif font in capital letters to portray yourself as being trustworthy and strong. Moreover, jagged and angular fonts may appear as aggressive or dynamic, whereas soft and rounded fonts give a youthful appeal.

3. Choose the right shape

Different shapes imply different meanings, so you can use shape to infer particular qualities about your brand. For example, holding shape logos are usually associated with being approachable, original and reliable, while geometric logos are commonly associated with being powerful, innovative and respected.

Here are other examples:

Circles, ovals and ellipses

• Convey a positive emotional message.
• Circles suggest community, friendship, love, relationships and unity.
• Rings imply marriage and partnership, suggesting stability and endurance.
• Curves are viewed as feminine in nature.

Squares and triangles

• Suggest stability in more practical terms and imply balance.
• Convey strength, professionalism and efficiency.
• Triangles are associated with power, science, religion and law.
• Viewed as masculine attributes.

Vertical and horizontal lines

• Vertical lines are associated with masculinity, strength and aggression.
• Horizontal lines suggest community, tranquillity and calm.

4. Keep it simple and clean

Don’t include anything in your logo that most people wouldn’t understand and avoid using too many different colours. Focus on a single message and deliver it as straightforward as possible. Your logo should also be flawless and have a high resolution, with a smooth blend of colour and shape. Most importantly, it should be simple and clean enough that anyone can draw it and proudly display it.

5. Appeal to your target audience

Your logo should entice your target audience. Consider the interests and background of your audience when designing your logo. For example, if your target audience is single men in their 20s who work full-time, are high school educated, love sports and are adventurous, a masculine and powerful logo is more appropriate than a fun and cute logo.

6. Be memorable and avoid clichés

If you’re a global brand, don’t use a globe in your design. If you’re an air travel company, don’t use an airplane. Your logo must be distinctive and catch the eyes of prospects in a sea of other logos.

7. Don’t abstract or oversimplify

When differentiating your logo from others, don’t create a logo that is so abstract or oversimplified that it no longer has any relevance to your brand, product or service.

8. Be bold and create trends

A bold design that creates trends rather than follows trends is sure to be a big winner. People should be captivated by the uniqueness of your logo.

9. Think globally

The design of your logo shouldn’t be too local or unable to have different colours to reflect different markets. Using the colour red in China will work better than another colour. What matters is that your brand/symbol is universally recognised. And you can win more business by appealing to a wider market.

10. Be versatile

Your logo should look good on both a small mobile phone and a large computer screen, whether horizontally or vertically. It should also look good when printed in black and white or in just one colour.

11. Crowdsource your logo

Take advantage of logo crowdsourcing sites where you can get tens or hundreds of idea submissions, and then use the best ideas as a basis to design your logo, all for just a few hundred dollars.

12. Be timeless

Finally, you want your logo to be long-lasting. You can do this by making an eternally relevant logo that is unique and by avoiding trendy fonts and design elements, such as brush script fonts and 3D designs, as trends tend to die out fast.

All things considered, a great company logo keeps your brand top of mind and sets you apart from competitors.

If you would like to speak with an expert regarding the brand management of your business, contact Strategic Flow Management today.